In modern countries, the garbage disposal has become a common fixture to the sinks of homes and businesses. Essentially the disposal is a grinder affixed to a drain outlet under the sink and grinds food and materials thrown into the drain into material small enough to be flushed through the drainpipes.
Because they contain motors and gears and have a strong housing, garbage disposal units tend to be heavy. Consequently, mounting such a heavy device to the bottom end of a disposal sink flange can be a challenging task. Conventionally, rotationally engaged flanges extend from the drain in the sink and are mated with a cooperating mounting ring flange which is rotationally positioned on the garbage disposal. Engaging the two flanges using rotation of one to cooperatively engage with the other, a compression fit of the disposal to the sink is created which is a leak-proof engagement. During a conventional installation under a sink, the plumber or installer of the disposal unit generally lays down on his back with his head under the sink. While in this cramped uncomfortable position, the plumber must then manipulate the disposal into place in the dark and tight space under the sink. While holding the heavy disposal elevated and perpendicular to the ground, the plumber must then accurately rotationally engage the sink mounted flange by rotating the disposal engaged mounting ring flange.
Conventionally, the engagement components for disposals to sinks which are employed in this mount have evolved a commonality amongst manufacturers. A majority of such garbage disposal units are engaged to the sink drain using this mating pair of rotatably engageable flanges. The upper flange or sink flange is normally engaged to the strainer assembly extending from the drain above to a position beneath the sink and is in a fixed position thereon. This upper flange is installed to the strainer assembly prior to the engagement of the disposal unit.
The disposal unit conventionally has a lower mounting ring flange engaged around its exterior adjacent to the upper or garbage intake aperture of the disposal unit. This lower mounting ring flange is adapted to rotationally engage with the upper flange, using a twist to engage a plurality of engageable ramps. Each of these ramps are positioned around an interior circumference defining an aperture in the lower mounting ring flange. These ramps begin at notches formed in the lower mounting ring interior circumference. To properly engage the disposal to the sink drain, the ramps on this lower mounting ring must all be concurrently placed in registered engagement with mating portions of similar ramps on the upper mounting ring flange. Thereafter, while holding both the lower ring flange and the heavy disposal unit to which it is engaged, the lower mounting ring flange must be rotated to force the lower flange to an engagement with the upper flange and thereby place the disposal unit into a sealed engagement with the drain outlet on which the upper flange is engaged.
This engagement of the mounting rings is a step in the process which is rendered most difficult for a number of reasons. A primary challenge is the fact that the installer must hold the heavy and bulky disposal unit elevated. At the same time the lower mounting flange, engaged upon or adjacent to the mouth of the disposal, must be elevated with the disposal unit and placed into a registered engagement with the upper mounting ring flange in its fixed engagement with the sink drain in order to allow for the next step of rotating the lower ring. This step of elevation and engagement can be both frustrating and dangerous since the installer is generally laying face up and lifting the heavy disposal motor assembly over his head with one hand, while attempting to engage and secure the upper and lower mounting ring flanges together by rotating them with the other hand.
Even if the installer, in this dark and cramped environment, is able to get the lower mounting ring properly started upon the ramps of the upper mounting ring flange, the next step requires that the lower mounting flange ring be rotated and that the plurality of ramps on both the upper and lower mounting rings, remain engaged for the entire process. This can be a daunting requirement in that the heavy disposal unit must be maintained elevated and substantially perpendicular to the axis of the sink drain to maintain the upper and lower mounting ring flanges in a proper registration to be properly engaged.
Still further, there is a considerable amount of force required to twist the lower mounting ring flange along the ramped engagement with the upper mounting ring flange to force the engaged and heavy disposal unit upward toward the sink and into a sealed engagement. The installer, therefore, must overcome the frictional engagement of the upper and lower mounting ring flanges during the rotation of the lower mounting ring flange, the weight of the disposal unit pushing downward on the lower mounting ring flange, and the requirement to compress a seal against the sink drain. To help installers make this engagement, manufacturers conventionally provide a plurality of projections extending from the exterior circumference of the lower mounting ring flange. These hollow projections are provided for the installer to engage and impart the mounting rotational force to the mounting ring. Frequently, the manufacturers of the disposals instruct that a small hex wrench be engaged into one of these projections to provide the user with a small lever to impart more force, allowing for the twisted engagement of the upper and lower mounting ring flanges. Of course this small wrench must be concurrently engaged in a small hole in one of the projections, as the installer is holding the heavy disposal unit elevated overhead and trying to keep the upper and lower mounting rings in the required registered parallel engagement, to achieve a sealed attachment of the disposal to the sink.
As a result, installers frequently fail to maintain all of the mating surfaces of the upper and lower mounting ring flanges in registration while concurrently holding the heavy disposal unit and while concurrently trying to engage the small hex wrench with one projection of the lower mounting ring flange. This results in an improper engagement that sometimes is not noticed until a leak test. Or, it can result in an engagement that causes the heavy disposal unit to fall on the head of the installer who unfortunately believes he has accomplished all the concurrent and tricky maneuvers properly.
As such, there exists an unmet need for a tool adapted to concurrently provide at least one and preferably a two-handed engagement to achieve an elevation of the heavy disposal unit, while concurrently providing a mechanical advantage to generate the force necessary to engage the upper and lower mounting ring flanges in their frictional engagement. Such a device should make it easy to maintain the disposal unit perpendicular to the axis of the sink drain and concurrently provide a means to engage one or a plurality of the manufacturer-provided projections extending around the exterior circumference of the lower mounting ring flange that is rotationally engaged upon the disposal unit. Still further, such a device should be easily disengaged once a secure mount between the upper and lower mounting rings is achieved.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the tool for disposal engagement invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings nor the steps outlined in the specification. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways as those skilled in the art will readily and immediately ascertain from reading this application. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention which is a significant improvement to the task of engaging a garbage disposal to a sink outlet. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.